Anyone ditch the 3 wood for a 4 wood?

[2Down]

I did it last year or so I think.  Took out a ping 410 three and put in a Callaway 4+. Great move for me as I can play the 4+ out of the rough sometimes and the ping just didn’t come out right for that shot or a few others.

 

the Callaway steelhead plus I got is a smaller head and the sole is perfect for me and my swing for shots off the turf.  Off the tee I use a shorty and have it as just a perfect lie.   

[Feelingofgreatness]

On 7/14/2022 at 2:32 PM, ShortGolfer said:

I'm short, so my driver is at 41.25, the 3HL is a 40.75, and the 11W is at 40.25 after a full bag fitting session.

My fitter was really surprised at  how good the TrackMan numbers looked hitting the 3HL off the mat as my swing speed wasn't very high.

The shaft choice has a lot do with whether the club  will work or not.

How do you get the lie angles upright enough to play them at that length and how did you modify swing weight? 

[ShortGolfer]

13 minutes ago, Feelingofgreatness said:

How do you get the lie angles upright enough to play them at that length and how did you modify swing weight? 

My fitter put me in the ladies Stealth Driver and 3HL with no adjustment on the lie angle. 

I like to play very light clubs so there was no need to adjust the SW either.

At one time I worried that cutting down the clubs too much would result in SWs that were too low, but I feel the position of the club just fine with a B4 SW driver.

But, if the SW is too high, I find myself fighting the club and my tempo gets out of whack.

 

I spend a lot of time gardening.  I prune shrubs all year which means I've developed a fine sense of where my body, arms, and hands are located.

This has also given me a lot of lower body strength that I've used in my golf swing.  I can be in an awkward position for five or ten minutes to prune something.

Edited September 25, 2022 by ShortGolfer

[Feelingofgreatness]

3 hours ago, ShortGolfer said:

My fitter put me in the ladies Stealth Driver and 3HL with no adjustment on the lie angle. 

I like to play very light clubs so there was no need to adjust the SW either.

At one time I worried that cutting down the clubs too much would result in SWs that were too low, but I feel the position of the club just fine with a B4 SW driver.

But, if the SW is too high, I find myself fighting the club and my tempo gets out of whack.

 

I spend a lot of time gardening.  I prune shrubs all year which means I've developed a fine sense of where my body, arms, and hands are located.

This has also given me a lot of lower body strength that I've used in my golf swing.  I can be in an awkward position for five or ten minutes to prune something.

I appreciate the thorough answer. 

 

If I may... How far do you hit the driver and HL at those lengths? 

[ShortGolfer]

With a nice tempo swing, 150 yards carry with driver.  180 yards if I swing hard and keep everything together.  180 yards with a draw and roll.

These days I can take two swings and put one in the fairway, and one just off the fairway, at the same distance, by switching between my draw and fade.

I'm 5' 2" and 108 lbs, which gives me a yd/pound ratio of 1.39.  I'm pretty pleased since I've never been mistaken for an athlete and have often been picked last or not at all.

This is without weight shift.  I can get more distance with weight shift but I don't know exactly how much yet. 

Lately I've been playing on cold wet grass in the mornings. Much more enjoyable when there are only a few early birds on the course.

 

As a stroke survivor I simplified my swing and did a lot of practice to handle a simple swing with just irons to play on a hilly course.

This year I learned to swing my driver, and have been gaining a lot of confidence and distance over the past three months.

As someone who has continually done rehab on my own for the past twenty years, I'm confident in my ability to improve my swing on my own.

 

HL measured a few yards less on the Trackman.  Seems to hold true on the course but I haven't used it much.  It is for when I start playing longer courses.

I've been playing at an inexpensive executive course with narrow fairways that are too punishing to just hit it hard and hope for the best.

There are plenty of areas of thick rough where you could spend all day looking and never find your ball. 

On the Ladies 8th tee you have to watch out for long drives coming  your way through the tee box.

Edited September 25, 2022 by ShortGolfer

[shanx]

I did for this season, but just put the 3 wood back in the bag. 

I hit a green from 256yds out last weekend with it, so I'm happy I did!

[drvrwdge]

Not going through every post but I’m sure it’s been said before. Modern 3w’s just go too far. Essentially mini drivers so I’ve gone 16.5 degree 4w then 21 degree 7w playing at 19. This fits my gaps perfectly and the 16.5 is a little more versatile. Easier to hit off the deck but still plenty long enough for tighter shorter courses off the tee. 

[MP-69er]

To echo the above, recently made the switch from a strong 3 wood to a 16.5* (3/4 whatever we want to call it). 

 

Felt I was always in an odd spot with too much carry distance, with a faster SS its an odd thing to complain about but looking at the gapping of my top end clubs has really helped out a lot and I feel a lot more confident off the fairway. 

[J_Tizzle]

I always felt that unless you use the 3w a lot off the tee, you'd be much better off removing it from the bag and putting in a high lofted wedge.  I currently carry a 15* 3w and I never hit it off the tee and maybe take 2 swipes with it on par 5's at my home course (which could bring it bigger numbers in all honesty with a bad strike) and thats it, so its really a risky club for me to have in my bag in general.  With that said I do still have a 3w in my bag, but I don't honestly see a big difference in having a 3w vs a 4w if you never needed the 3w into a par 5.  You look at a lot of the pros that play 4w and I honestly assume they're all super open so the actual playing loft is much lower than the stated loft.  

[Vater]

This may have been the spot that I experimented most with this season. I hardly ever used my 3W off the tee and I didn’t want to use multiple hybrids - I just wanted one hybrid for shot variety. 
 

So you know how it goes… Decided my V Steel 3W was too old so went with a 5W instead. 5W was great, but then as soon as I put a 3W back in, I kept selecting it over the 5W. But I was never happy with it - went through three 3Ws…

 

Then decided that the best gapping between my driver and hybrid was a 4W. 
 

The club I liked didn’t have a “real” 4W, so I had to choose between lofting up a 3W or lofting down a 5W. Chose the latter as it’s obviously a friendlier - and more versatile - club. 

[ilikegolf26]

On 9/25/2022 at 2:58 PM, ShortGolfer said:

With a nice tempo swing, 150 yards carry with driver.  180 yards if I swing hard and keep everything together.  180 yards with a draw and roll.

These days I can take two swings and put one in the fairway, and one just off the fairway, at the same distance, by switching between my draw and fade.

I'm 5' 2" and 108 lbs, which gives me a yd/pound ratio of 1.39.  I'm pretty pleased since I've never been mistaken for an athlete and have often been picked last or not at all.

This is without weight shift.  I can get more distance with weight shift but I don't know exactly how much yet. 

Lately I've been playing on cold wet grass in the mornings. Much more enjoyable when there are only a few early birds on the course.

 

As a stroke survivor I simplified my swing and did a lot of practice to handle a simple swing with just irons to play on a hilly course.

This year I learned to swing my driver, and have been gaining a lot of confidence and distance over the past three months.

As someone who has continually done rehab on my own for the past twenty years, I'm confident in my ability to improve my swing on my own.

 

HL measured a few yards less on the Trackman.  Seems to hold true on the course but I haven't used it much.  It is for when I start playing longer courses.

I've been playing at an inexpensive executive course with narrow fairways that are too punishing to just hit it hard and hope for the best.

There are plenty of areas of thick rough where you could spend all day looking and never find your ball. 

On the Ladies 8th tee you have to watch out for long drives coming  your way through the tee box.

I’d take a guy that’s 180 in the middle of the fairway way before last any day of the week!!

[ilikegolf26]

On 9/26/2022 at 5:40 PM, drvrwdge said:

Not going through every post but I’m sure it’s been said before. Modern 3w’s just go too far. Essentially mini drivers so I’ve gone 16.5 degree 4w then 21 degree 7w playing at 19. This fits my gaps perfectly and the 16.5 is a little more versatile. Easier to hit off the deck but still plenty long enough for tighter shorter courses off the tee. 

Same here. Driver, 16.5HL and 19* hybrid for me. 

[Kid Frisco]

My PXG Gen4XF 3 wood is 16 degrees with the ability to go up or down 1.5 degrees so it’s basically a 3HL / 4 wood?  

[nitram]

This is the spot in the bag that I've worked on for over two years and in earnest since the Spring. I've been a 3WD/5WD player for the past two decades and quite honestly, the 5WD has been the most trusted club in the bag during this time. I've always been of the opinion that once you find a fairway wood that gains your trust, don't mess with it, even in jest. I found such woods in 2007 when Tour Edge introduced the Exotics CB2. After 13 years and hitting countless balls (thousands), I cratered the face on the 5WD. I tried, tested, and built over 2 dozen, 5 woods, domestic and import, as well as similar hybrids and driving irons. While I would be perfectly content to put another CB2 into service, I couldn't find one in good enough shape, and finally decided to move on.

 

What I've discovered after all of this testing is the modern 4WD/7WD (when using modern shafts) perform as well and in some cases are superior to the 3WD/5WD combo from years ago. While I'm not advocating that people who've entered into a covenant with their long-term fairways to go and immediately make a change. But if you are ever forced to consider a change, you can do so without trepidation.

 

 

[RainShadow]

I got rid of the 15* XHot 3wd that served me well since it was released when I became less able to elevate it off the deck consistently. That was about 5 years ago. I had an OG Blueboard 73s in it.

Moved to an OG Rogue 17* with good results for a couple of years, but started to struggle with the set up ( Atmos Blues 7 TS ) 

Picked up a SIM2Max 3HL with the stock Ventus and liked the forgiveness of the head, but hated the shaft. Put an Aldila NV 75R in it and it's now miles better. Only complaint is the plastic-y sound.

I was demoing the new TSR2 16.5 with the HZRDUS Black 4k 70g in it with good results at a Titleist outdoor demo this week. Was able to hit of grass. Impressed with look, sound/feel and flight.

Distance was hard to judge as it was a short range (220) with limited flight balls, but all in all, I'm leaning toward picking one up. I've only had the NV in the TM for a couple of rounds, though, and it's looking promising.

I usually don't change FW's often, but I getting older and have a recently diagnosed neuromuscular disorder ( Parkinson's) so I'm losing some SS.

[me05501]

For anyone making this change I would caution you to pay attention to shaft length as well as loft. 

 

Callaway puts the same length shaft in a three wood and a four wood (43.25" for the Epic Speed line). When I started playing there were drivers on the rack with 44" shafts and 45" was considered risky. I think 43.25" for a four wood is too long. 

 

I cut 1/2" off my Epic Speed four wood yesterday and tried it on Trackman today. I lost about 5 yards of carry but improved my contact and dispersion quite a bit. I feel more in control over the ball than I did before. It's an easy adjustment to make and one any player should consider.  

[third-times-a-charm]

6 minutes ago, me05501 said:

For anyone making this change I would caution you to pay attention to shaft length as well as loft. 

 

Callaway puts the same length shaft in a three wood and a four wood (43.25" for the Epic Speed line). When I started playing there were drivers on the rack with 44" shafts and 45" was considered risky. I think 43.25" for a four wood is too long. 

 

I cut 1/2" off my Epic Speed four wood yesterday and tried it on Trackman today. I lost about 5 yards of carry but improved my contact and dispersion quite a bit. I feel more in control over the ball than I did before. It's an easy adjustment to make and one any player should consider.  

 

100% agree. I play all my woods 1" short.

 

The issue I've seen lately is that the weighting of the heads can be off my 10g or more and adding that much hosel or lead tape weight is annoying.

[me05501]

Just now, third-times-a-charm said:

 

100% agree. I play all my woods 1" short.

 

The issue I've seen lately is that the weighting of the heads can be off my 10g or more and adding that much hosel or lead tape weight is annoying.

 

Fortunately the Epic Speed line has a weight port. I swapped mine from 7g to 8g. It feels okay to me. I have heavier weights to try as well.

[third-times-a-charm]

Just now, me05501 said:

 

Fortunately the Epic Speed line has a weight port. I swapped mine from 7g to 8g. It feels okay to me. I have heavier weights to try as well.

Yeah the older Epic Speed and Mavrik lines had either 1 or 2 weight ports which was awesome, but newer lines like the Rogue ST and Paradym dont (in callaway) and if they do it's just 1 port forward which doesnt work.

[jbrunk]

I never quite figured out how to use my 4W, too many bad outcomes probably a poor fit with the shaft.  Wasn’t a good tee club (Epic Flash SZ 3W is better/unbeatable), the 3Hy is much more reliable from the fairway, and as a rescue club there’s obviously less loft on the 3W.  Here was my setup that worked better in theory than in practice.

Cobra F6+ 1W 10.5° Diamana D+ 62 S
Mavrik Subzero 4W 16.5° Rogue White 70 S

Mavrik Pro 3Hy 20° KBS 70/80 Hyb S
Apex 19 4Hy 23° EvenFlow Black 85H S

 

[Barfolomew]

Got a M2 16.5 HL 3 wood...... so versatile. 

 

I can hit low bombs with little draw for ultimate distance or you can hit that sucker so short with a high cut as far as a 4 iron if you want which is useful for those long par 3s into the wind or when you're tired and need a little help at end of round

[JFM628]

Yes

[roundersmitty]

I went a step further.   Ditched the 15* Titleist 915 for a 16.5* TEE then ditched that last year for a 18* PXG 0211